Sundilla will kick off the 2009 schedule with a first-timer, when Juni Fischer comes to town on Friday, January 9. Showtime is 7:30, and admission is just $10, $8 for students, and free for children 12 and under. Juni might be new to Sundilla, but she’s not new to the music scene; the recent announcement that she had won the 2008 WMA Songwriter of the Year Award makes it four straight years that Juni has won at least one major music award, including WMA Vocalist of the Year (2006,) AWA Female Vocalist of the Year (2005,) WMA Song of the year (2007 and 2008) and WMA Crescendo Award (2005.) And since awards don’t grow on trees, you know that all of that hardware really means something.
Juni Fisher has been likened to movie director John Ford for her sweeping, epic story songs, to Stanley Kubrick for her stark, raw edged vignettes of the history of the American West. She takes her audiences by storm with her original, hard hitting, soulful lyrics. Her straightforward, on the mark vocals give voice to the soul of this remarkable songwriter. Traditional folk music blends seamlessly with her songs of the American West, and many a listener has been moved by her unmistakably original music. Captivating performances, filled with essential marriage of crystalline guitar passages, and heart wrenching delivery are what Juni Fisher does best. Alone with her guitar, she weaves story, and song in seamless, unforgettable lyric and melody. Imagine Ian Tyson crossed with Joan Baez, and hang on to your hat!
Despite Juni’s awards and acclaim, music fans might be lucky that she is in the music business at all! She certainly didn’t take the conventional path to the stage. For a long time her musical upbringing was coinciding with her love of horses. In college she was a competitive rider, and earned money to enter shows by singing with a local band. After college she worked on ranches during the week and competed on the weekends, and that kind of work leads to nights around a campfire, and it’s not a good campfire gathering until someone breaks out a guitar.
She eventually found herself training horses in California, and knowledge of her musical talents preceded her; she wasn’t there for long before she was invited to join a local band as guitarist and vocalist. That exposure led to an invitation to join an even more popular band.
Work soon took her to Tennessee, close to Nashville, and there isn’t a better place for an up-and-coming musician to learn even more about her craft, especially songwriting. Before long she was recording her first CD, and it was that CD that led to an invitation to perform at the Monterey Music Festival. And that performance led to more exposure, more CDs, and that shelf full of awards mentioned earlier.
Don’t miss this chance to see Juni Fisher perform. Come on out to the AUUF this Friday; you’ll be glad you did! Showtime is 7:30 and admission is just $10, $8 for students, and free for children 12 and under. There will be free coffee, tea, water and food, though as always you are welcome to bring whatever food or beverage you prefer. For more information, just go to www.sundilla.org.
In other news… the economy hit the music industry hard, just like it did just about everything else. Among the hardest hit were smaller venues, like Sundilla. Many went under, and almost all of the others are countering the economic downturn by raising prices; a $20 or $25 admission to a “Sundilla-like” concert is now more common than not. But Sundilla has decided to try a different approach to cope with the problem: rather than doubling admission, we want to double attendance. If we can do that, we’ll not just survive, but thrive. But if we can’t, then we have to face the very real possibility that Sundilla will not continue past 2009. Fortunately, we’ve got 12 great months of music in front of us before we have to make that call, and the more people we can get to come to the concerts, the more likely that Sundilla will continue to bring the area great live music at affordable prices. So please, whenever you can come to a concert, please do. And bring friends; hardly a day goes by that I don’t meet someone who lives here who has never heard of Sundilla, which just proves that Sundilla’s best form of advertising continues to be those who love the music.
From the Archives — originally published on the Opelika Daily News on January 6, 2009. View the original page.
